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Disclaimer All OCs and places not in PJO are MINEEEEEEEEEEE. Everything else is Rick Riodan's. HISSSSSSSSSSSS. Thank you. :D Also, this story is rated T/PG-13.﻿ Chapter One Eros' POV "Eros!" Aphrodite snapped. "Yes, Mother?" I asked, amused by her anger. "You know perfectly well what I'm yelling at you for!" She hissed. "But Mom-" "No but's! You made that girl fall in love with him! He is mine!" I cleared my throat. "Um... was. He was yours. Now he's in love with that girl. Oh well, nothing you can do about it now, let's just move on!" I was used to my mother's rants by now. After thousands of years, they don't really get to you. Every time she saw a guy that she wanted to have... er, have a date with (or something along those lines) she would go balistic trying to, er, date him. And who would have to help her until she got what she wanted? Not her other sons or daughters, not even the people who were paid to work for her, but yes, me, Eros, god of love. I don't like to cater to my mother's desires, at least when it involved men. She was already married to Hephaestus, and had the love of almost all of the gods on Olympus! Why did she need even more guys? And mortal ones at that! Not that I have anything against mortals. My own wife was a mortal before we got married. Speaking of my wife, Psyche goddess of the soul- "Eros! Are you even listening to me? That's it! Your salary is getting lowered again if you don't start listening to me right now!" Aphrodite threatened, breaking my train of thought. "Mom, since when do you pay me?" I asked, amused. This was typical Aphrodite; Using some technique Hermes probably taught her to make me work harder, yet she can't. She has nothing against me. She looked kind of embarassed. "Well, this is exactly why I don't pay you!" She saved herself on that one. "Yeah, yeah, Mom. But how much would I get paid if I listen to you and get you the next guy you go balist- um, the next guy you like?" I was sure that this would get her off my back. She didn't 'do' numbers. "How about 2000 golden drachmas per hour?" She offered with an uncertainty. I didn't think that she would answer, but this was great! 2000 golden drachma per hour! Score! "But," she continued," under one condition." I nodded to show that I was listening. She smiled that sinister smile that I absolutely hated. It was her I-have-a-plan-smile. "I want The Guy." My jaw dropped. He gathered himself and closed his mouth. "You can't possibly be serious! He's already in love! You can't do that!" I exclaimed. Aphrodite kept smiling her sinister smile. "You're right." I sighed of relief. "I can't do it. But you can." My jaw dropped even lower than before. "No! Never! I've already made a match and I will absolutely not go back on true love!" I refused. Aphrodite put on her pouty face which I haven't given into for a while. "Please, Eros? Pretty please? Do it for your poor, old, lonely mother," she begged. I rolled my eyes at the words she used to describe herself. Poor, old, and lonely. I've never heard a lie so ridiculous. She knew that I was silently mocking her. She stopped the whole pouty thing and got all sinister again. Aphrodite reclined on the pink couch in the back room of her temple. She reached out and grabbed a silver remote with a bunch of flashy and blinky buttons and lights all over it. She saw me eyeing it. "You like it? My wonderful husband made it," she cooed, looking at one of the 'hidden' cameras Hephaestus put up to catch her cheating on him. He already knew that she was cheating on her, but he liked to transmit the videos to Olympus to embarass her. Quite the couple, don't you think? "It's really too bad that you won't do as I say, Eros. Really quite the shame," she said with fake sympathy. I crossed my arms across my chest to make myself look tougher, as my father Ares usually did. "What are you talking about, Aphrodite?" She just stared at me like a cat stares at a mouse. "You'll find out soon enough if you don't agree to my terms." For some reason that just set off my son of Ares temper. "Aphrodite, I've had enough of your stupid games! Tell me what you're going on about already!" I burst out. Aphrodite gasped. "You will not talk to me in that tone, you will not raise your voice at me, and you will certainly not ever tell me what to do!" She lost her cool, while still trying to sound parental. I scoffed at her attempt at trying to be a parental figure of authority. She glared at me for a second, then her expression softened. That was extremely un-Aphrodite like. But then she smiled the sinister smile once again. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Eros," She scolded, "that was a bad move. A very, very bad move. You may think that I have nothing against you," and that was exactly what I thought, "but all that has changed today." I was about to speak up but my mouth froze when I heard a muffled scream from behind a curtain opposite of Aphrodite and myself. I gasped. I recognized that voice, that scream. "Ps- Ps- Psyche?" I managed. More muffled yelling from behind the pink curtain. "You- you- you b*tch!" I screamed at Aphrodite. She pressed a white button on her remote and the pink curtain was drawn back. I knew it was coming but I gasped anyway. There was my beautiful Psyche standing on a stage tied up with rope and gagged. Next to her was Phobos and on her other side was Deimos. I must've looked devastated because they laughed at me. "That's right, brother," Phobos taunted me, with his eyes gleaming with mischief, "your worst fear coming true. It's my specialty." Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber were grinning like the idiots everyone knows they are, but Aphrodite was serious. "I never liked her, so this was a great idea! We'll keep her company while you get me my man candy," she said with a business type attitude, but she was smiling like a little kid in a candy shop. Psyche's eyes filled with tears. One made its way out and slowly rolled down her cheek. I almost exploded with anger. I balled my hands into fists at my side. "Aphrodite," I said through clenched teeth, "whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Just don't hurt her." This was exactly what she wanted to hear. She squealed. "Fantastic!" She nodded at Deimos who then picked up Psyche and threw her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatos. "Aphrodite? What are you doing?!" I yelled, outraged. She smiled her sinister smile again. "She's staying with your brothers until your task is completed." I was about to yell at Aphrodite, until I saw my beautiful Psyche was almost gone. "Psyche!" I yelled, but my voice cracked. "I love you! I'll get you out of this! I'll get you out, I promise! I promise! I love you, Psyche!" The last I saw of my precious Psyche was her tear stained face. She looked absolutely terrified. "Now, Eros. Should we start today or tommorrow?" Aphrodite asked casually, as if all of this didn't happen. My eyes started to fill with tears. "You cruel b*tch," I said with a tear streaming down my cheek. And with that I stormed out, knocking everything out of my way and smashing every statue of Aphrodite. I mumbled curses as I ran out of the pink hell hole of Aphrodite's temple which mortals knew better as Victoria's Secret. Chapter Two Tabby's POV I survied my surroundings. Grass. Lake. Hills. Kids. Kids with swords. Kids fighting. Kids screaming. Kids having a good ol' time at summer camp. I hated it. I hated having to leave my friends, my mom, and the respect as the party girl at my school thousands and thousands of miles away in California. So this is the fabled magical summer camp Goat guy talked about. It had defiantly sounded a lot more majestic when Greg or whatever his name was told me about it. "Oh, you'll love it there! The grass growing on the big hills is the greenest grass you'll ever see! Oh, and the lake! My favorite! The water shimmers and it's so blue! It's so pretty, not to mention the nymphs who live in the lake. They're pretty too." At which point he zoned out and I walked away before I got drooled on. I suppose it is kinda pretty. And the grass is really green, and the water's so blue. And pretty. But no of those nymph girl things to be seen. Greg the Goat Guy Guide was no where to be seen also. I thought about asking the horse-man Chiron where he was, but decided against it. It was creepy enough just finding out that the weird kid from my school was half goat, but then being shipped off to some summer camp thousands of miles away and meeting a guy with thousands of eyes on his body (the ADHD part of me wondered if he had eyes all over his body... ick) then meeting a guy with a half horse half man body. Seeing him once was enough for me. I looked around again hoping to see a familiar face, but none to be found. Then I turned around to look at the so called Big House and saw something that made me gasp. It was my face. My black curly hair except cut short. My purple-black eyes. Except it was on a man. And he looked just as shocked to see me as I was to see him. My eyes never left his, even as Greg the Goat Guy Guide walked up to me and said, "Hey, Tabs!" using my nickname from school. "Welcome to Camp Half Blood! You'll be staying in Hermes slash Cabin Eleven until further notice." Then he saw who I was staring at. And looked back at me. And then back at him. Me. Him. Me. Him. "What in all of Hades... Dion- er, Mr. D?" He asked with general awe. ....And then looked at me with the rest of the entire camp at the glowing symbol of a cluster of purple grapes floating over my head. And after I looked down from the glowing symbol and back to where he stood, no one was there. But I swear I heard in my head, I'll see you soon, daughter. My father just disappeared. Right after he claimed me. That was when I blacked out. Chapter Three Eros' POV I practically ran down the hallways of Olympus, pushing gods, no matter who they were, out of my way as I rushed to Zeus' throne. I ran to the throne room and found Zeus right away. Zeus was sitting on his throne, talking to an arguing Apollo and Artemis. Hera was right next to Zeus glaring at the twins. I didn't have time for this. Who knew what his brothers were doing to Psyche at this very moment! I ran up and pushed Apollo and Artemis out of my way and got an approving look from Hera. "Hey!" Apollo and Artemis yelled at me. I glared at them with every ounce of anger in my body. "I'm very sure my problem is much, much worse than whatever fight you two are having this time," I said between clenched teeth. They backed off immediatly. Zeus didn't really seem to care either way. "Yes, Eros? What's so important that you have to interrupt?" he said, trying to act like he gave a crap about my problems. "If it's between you and your mother again..." he started the thought and didn't finish it. "It is, but it's much more serious this time! She kidnapped my wife!" my voice was urgent and demanding. "And then she gave her to Phobos and Deimos, and who knows where she is and what those morons are doing to her right now!" Zeus sighed and repeated what I'd heard numerous times. "I'm not going to get involved in whatever fight is going on with you and your mother, Eros. Haven't we gone over this already?" I knew this was all I was going to hear from him, but I kept going anyway. "Zeus! My wife! She kidnapped my'' wife! How can you not do anything about this?! And do you know why she's doing it? Because I won't get her another boy toy! What if someone took your wife? How would you feel?!" and this is where I start to break down and cry. Seriously. I'm crying to get pity out of the king of the gods. I am either a total wimp, or a complete genius.' If Zeus is feeling sorry for me, he's not showing it. I just sniffed and wiped away the rest of my tears and tried to avoid eye contact. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to flip out like that...." I cleared my throat, looking extremely embarassed. Hera cleared her throat also, but to get Zeus' attention. As if to say, 'You help this poor crying kid or you're not getting any for the next millenium'. Zeus got the hint and sighed. "Fine, Eros. I'll try to get Aphrodite to return Psyche. But please, please never cry in front of me again." Then he mumbled under his breath, "It's a wonder he's a son of Ares." I acted like I didn't hear that last part and tried to put as much happiness as I could muster into saying, "Thank you so very, very much, Zeus! Truly you are a great king of the gods!" Considering Aphrodite would probably refuse and then give Zeus some crazy deal that she would pull off to look reasonable, but she knew that I would probably not pull it off and then have to do whatever she says anyway, I figured a little kissing-up couldn't hurt my case. Then I walked out of the throne room, resisting the urge to spit on Aphrodite's, with a smile hidden on my face. I got pitying looks from every god, except the ones I pushed on the way there. Then it was just dirty looks. I was about to leave Olympus when a familiar hiss came from behind. "Go to whine to my father, did you? It's not going to work. You know what happened last time you went to him. I got what I wanted, anyway. So why even bring him into this? Come on, just one little prick from the arrow, and that's all it takes. Your family will be reunited once again. Just do it." I seriously hate my mom right now. Chapter Four Tabby's POV I've been in Camp Half Blood for two days, one of which I was unconscious. I still didn't really know anyone except my half brother, Pollux. We look somewhat alike. He has blond hair, and I have black, but both of ours are curly. We have the same face and eyes. We both have an athletic build, but he's taller. Obviously because he's eighteen and I'm thirteen. He's been showing me around and told me about his twin brother, Castor. He's dead. But apparently was very brave. Pollux loved him a lot, and he still does. Just seeing how much Pollux loved Castor, it makes me want to love him, too. Today I was wearing some khaki cargos and a Shinedown t-shirt (A/N: Shinedown is a band if you didn't know that), and I got some looks from other campers. I, for one, agree with the Aphrodite cabin that the orange shirts were ug-ly! Screw the other campers. Pollux and I walked to our cabin after the Sing Along led by the Apollo cabin. I can say this for a fact: I have never before seen a fire that was like, 20 feet high and bright purple. The color reminded me of my dad, Dionysus, whom I haven't seen for a while. But Capture the Flag was tommorrow, and we needed rest, or at least that's what Pollux said. "Oh, Styx!" he said suddenly. I sighed. "Um, left my watch at the fire. You just get ready, and I'll be back really quick." He said with a reassuring smile. I rolled my eyes and waved him off. I walked into the dark, empty cabin and turned around to see my half brother jogging toward the fire and stop to talk to another camper. I walked in and turned on the lights (A/N: I don't know if CHB has electricity.... but it does now!) 'and changed into a pair of fuzzy pajama pants and a t-shirt. Pollux walked in a few minutes later, having a hard time getting his watch on. "Need some help there, buddy?" I snickered. "You can grow vines, kill monsters, and make people insane, but you can't get on a watch? Nice." To which he responded by sticking his tounge out at me. Very mature. "Whatever, I'll get it in the morning." He walked off into his part of the cabin and changed. "Night, Tab." "Sweet Dreams, Pol." I wish my father was as supportive and nice as Pollux. He's avoiding me. And I seriously can't find Greg, either. Maybe he's finding other demigods. And maybe Dad is just in shock... I fell asleep with that word rebounding in my head the entire night. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. '(A/N: Sorry about the short chapter.... Couldn't really think of anything to add) Chapter Five Eros' POV I checked my watch. 10:20 am, I had ten minutes till my appointment on Olympus. Zeus was going to talk to Aphrodite and give a judgement on what he was planning on doing about the kidnapping. Knowing Aphrodite, she wasn't going to make this easy for me. Hope was not one of the many feelings I had before my appointment. I felt rage bubbling up inside of me, against Phobos and Demios for obvious reasons, Aphrodite for every single thing that she'd ever done to me, Zeus for not helping me earlier, and against myself for crossing Aphrodite. Why hadn't I just done what she asked? Everyone knew how bad things went when Aphrodite didn't get her way. The Trojan war, for example. She was't immediatly offered the golden apple, she got Helen and Paris involved, and all of that mess. Why am I so stubborn? So arrogant! So dumb! Maybe I should just give in. Apologize, give her what she wants. I sighed, then felt that rage bubble up once again. Blood-thirsty, pure, uncontained rage. My father was near. I was sitting on the edge of the fountain, and I could hear the clomp of his combat boots on the stone as he approached me. The fountain creaked as Ares sat next to me. He sighed loudly and apparently tried to have a father-son moment. "Eros, I know we haven't been close. Ever. But listen, son. Your mother is ruthless and insane. Don't try to fight her. I know this is weird coming from the blood-thirsty, courageous, god of war, but just give up. You're my son, and probably the only thing we have in common is pride. So just swallow it, and get it over with. Apologize, and it makes me angry to say this but, give her the dang guy. You must know this better than anyone, she will go through whatever it takes to get what she wants." And then he got up and walked away. I don't really like my dad either. I didn't even bother to turn around to see that Ares was heading towards Aphrodite with a grimace on his face. I already know what I have to do. I don't care that Phobos and Demios were standing right outside Aphrodite's home on Olympus, most likely with my wife inside. I don't care that Aphrodite is glaring at the back of my head. I don't care that Ares is pouting, and now most likely hitting on some mortal woman at the moment. I don't care, but yet all of this effects me. Every little thing changes my life some how. I know what I have to do. I glance at my watch one more time. 10:27. Three minutes. I stand up and walk towards my destanation. Every thing changes me. This choice is going to change everything. (A/N: Short Chapter again, sorry! :) I'll try to lengthen the others...) Chapter Six Tabby's POV I had the strangest dream that night. I was in a great, big, grand throne room. I knew it was a throne room by, well, the thrones. Except these thrones were like, way taller than anything I've seen in movies. Ten feet taller. But you should have seen the people in the thrones! Holy crud, they were huge! The size of at least four of me. It seemed as if they couldn't see me, though. There were four in their thrones. In a simple, yet grand, platinum throne sat a big guy with a neat gray beard in a suit with stormy grey eyes. On account of the eyes, I think he was Zeus. Sitting next to him was a very beautiful woman with chocolate brown hair woven into a braid with golden ribbons and a matching dress-toga-thingy, sitting in an ivory throne with golden birds and willow leaves on it. I didn't have a guess who she was. A few thrones away sat a big, burly man wearing a leather jacket, black pants, and red wrap around sunglasses with scars on his face. He sat in a leather and chrome throne with- are those human skulls?! Apart from the skulls -ew, seriously!- it reminded me of a big motorcycle. By the extreme goryness of it all, I'm guessing it was Ares, god of war. Near him sat an astonishingly beatiful woman wearing a rosy pink toga dress similar to the other woman's. Her hair was strawberry blond, effortlessly falling to her shoulders, and parts of it were clipped back with real roses which smelled as good as they were pretty- which is to say that they smelled really good. I couldn't really see her face very well, but I saw her eyes and they were so pretty and clear, a mirror would've been jealous. I'm just going to take a wild guess and say that was Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. But apart from all of those people, the real one that took my attention was a young man. He looked to be about twenty-three with shaggy, dirty blond hair falling into his eyes. Speaking of his eyes, they were a beatiful, beatiful purple. A purple I didn't even know existed. They looked sad and pleading, yet compelled and determined. His clothes were average, yet they pulled off an elegance that I couldn't fathom. It was just pre-faded jeans and a green striped button up shirt, but they way the looked on him it could've been a fitted Armani suit. If you're not catching on my now, he looked good. I couldn't guess who he was, but I was too interested on how hot he was to care. But enough on appearances, I needed to focus on the words they were saying. Zeus looked tired and exasperated. He sighed as he addressed the people in the room, except me as I was apparently invisible. "Now, everyone calm down," he said and all the whispered conversations stopped. I guess Zeus was as important as they say. "We're here to discuss what to do about the kidnapping of Eros' wife, Psyche. Aphrodite has actually admitted to doing so, with the help of her sons, Phobos and Deimos, who appear to be absent. Now, Aphrodite, why did you take Psyche?" He addressed the beautiful woman with the roses in her hair. "Leverage, father. Simply that I have some weight on my employee. I never liked her anyway," Aphrodite spit out the word 'her' like I would say homework. The guy in charge seemed to consider this, then moved on to Ares. "Ares? Where do you take part in all of this? Or are you just encouraging your family feud?" "Ah, Zeus. I take no place in all of this madness. You know I just like a good fight," Ares said with a toothy grin. That grin was wiped off of his face pretty quick when Aphrodite elbowed him in the gut. "What?" he grumbled, rubbing his side. "It's true." "Now, Eros," Zeus said to the really, really hot guy (hey! Give a girl a break!). "Let's hear your story once again. This time without the water works, please." The crying comment got him a glare from the woman next to him, who I just assumed was his wife. The hot guy, whose name was Eros apparently, cleared his throat before speaking. "Well, you see, I refused to get my mother Aphrodite, here, another plaything. Is that so wrong? I think not. So, in response to my refusal, she goes and steals my wife away from me. You know her, Zeus. Brown hair, pretty, nice, all the things Aphrodite should be jealous of," he eyed Aphrodite with suspicion. "So let's just give me back Psyche and get this little spat over with. Be reasonable, mother." This time the exasperated sigh came from Aphrodite, along with an extremely obvious eye roll. "Puh-lease, Eros. Jealous of her? Never." Aphrodite obviously hated this Psyche chick. And has some pride issues. Zeus sighed and sat up straight again. "Alright, I have made my decision," he said, eyeing everyone in the room, except me obviously. He opened his mouth to say something when.... "Hey, Tabby! TABBY! WAKE UP!" Why can't I be an only child again? Chapter Seven Eros' POV The meeting was.... interesting. The verdict was.... interesting. Lately life has been interesting. Since you probably don't understand why it was so interesting, here's what happened.... I stood in front of Zeus and Hera. Zeus was sulky as usual, and Hera was trying to make conversation, but wasn't doing so well. Ares and Aphrodite were talking quietly, just about next to me, I could practically hear every word of their conversation. "- a quest? Great idea, hunny bear," Aphrodite whispered seductively into Ares' ear. I almost gagged. Ares was practically blushing. You would think that after millenia of this, he wouldn't blush. "Yes, thank you," he grunted. "Now let's say he has to pick out a demigod to do his bidding, and makes them go and find that girl of his?" "Oh, yes!" Aphrodite squealed. "Perfect, perfect, perfect! This should be ama-" "Now, everyone calm down!" Zeus cut her off. He went on with telling us what it was all about, blah blah blah, we gave our stories, yaddah yahhdah yaddah﻿, but then there was the part you need to hear. There was a bit of a small popping sound from over behind a throne, but I ignored that. Zeus went on, "Alright, I have made my decision." He eyed everyone in the room. "I shall-" There was a flash of light, and the sound of flapping wings. Hermes stood right in front of me, looking at his father. Hermes was a rather elfish man, sort of short, about the same height as me. He was wearing a post office worker's uniform, a hat pulled over his curly black hair. "Oh, sorry, Eros, didn't mean to interrupt!" he said as he stepped to the side. "I just have a delievery for..... Zeus!" He held up a golden envelope. Hermes walked up to Zeus and handed him the letter. He ripped it open and scanned the page quickly. As he was reading it, his eyebrows raised. "As I was saying," he paid no attention to Hermes as he left in another flash or light, or the letter sitting on his lap, "I shall have it that Eros choose his champion, a demigod from our very own Camp Half-Blood, to save his wife from a place protected by whomever Aphrodite wishes. So I say, so it shall be done!" (A/N: Sorry, I've been watching a Moses movie in school... 'So it shall be written, so it shall be done!' XD) I rubbed the bridge of my nose and sighed. I should've known that Aphrodite would find a way to meddle in on his judgement. Aphrodite squealed with delight, and Ares grunted in agreement. "Fine, I accept." I said, ignoring their happiness. Zeus nodded, not really planning on me not accepting. Hera didn't seem pleased with this judgement, but-for once- kept quiet. "I'll go right away, so this nightmare ends sooner..." I walked out without another word. The last thing I heard was a giggle from Aphrodite. I knocked over her statue on my way out. A satisfying crack came as I disappeard to Camp. Chapter Eight Tabby's POV Things at camp are tense. Aphrodite's kids are mocking Eros' kids. This is basically an entire cabin of like, over fifteen kids arguing with two of Eros' kids. I have unofficially taken the Eros' kids side, just because I loathe the popular and pretty. At my old school, you probably wouldn't of known this because I usually suck up to them. I mean, hey, no rich kids, no mansions for parties! Anyway, the two Eros kids are Aiko Láska and Ren Láska, who are twins. They are pretty much my only friends other than Pollux, who I guess doesn't count because he's my brother. Now, the Aphrodite kids have taken to taunting me, and my father should be here to help me and turn them into nasty little weeds, but he's on a leave of absence. Of course he is. Now you might be wondering why they're fighting, I mean, they're related, right? Well, Aphrodite apparently kidnapped Eros' wife, and during a trial (which I think was my dream), Zeus proclaimed that Eros would choose a champion to go on a quest to save Psyche, his wife. So the Aphrodite﻿ kids were taunting Eros' kids about the verdict, blah blah blah, argue, argue, argue, etc. Here we are. So, that happened last night. He's here right now, looking exactly as he did in my dream. Everyone- except the Aphrodite kids- was crowding around near him, but not too close, still afraid of his godly powers. I, not wanting to be chosen, climbed a tree with a bottle of cheap wine (Don't judge me! It's perfectly healthy for a daughter of Dionysus...) and sat in a medium high branch, watching the show. It should be quite interesting. Meanwhile, Aiko and Ren are standing below my tree, watching their father. I understand where they're coming from. What are they suppossed to say? "Hey dad! Haven't seen you for thirteen years! Good luck finding your wife that hates us!" Not likely. He saw them and smiled, then noticed my dangling feet. It's apparently not very hard to see neon green sneakers, I guess. He must've had a good feeling about the sneakers- or maybe it was his kids- and much to my dismay, he started walking over by us. He stood next to the trunk of the tree and started talking to his kids. Then he looked up the tree and raised an eyebrow. So he, using all of his godly authority, and yanked my ankle... causing me to fall out of the tree and hit the ground. With my face. One word: OW! I lifted myself off of the ground to look up at my friend's father. Still gorgeus as ever. Then I dropped my head on the ground in despair, seeing my precious wine spilled, the bottle under his probably super expensive shoes. "Hmm.. You must be the daughter of Dionysus I've heard about if you're allowed to drink this," he said. Aiko answered him, seeing me in too much pain over falling, and then loosing my wine to answer. "Y-yes, father. She's Mr. D's daughter." I finally looked up to see his expression. It was a smile that I'll remember forever, it was the smile that changed my life. "I've chosen my champion." My head hit the grass once again. This was going to be a long summer. Chapter Nine Eros' POV I spend the next thirty seconds wondering if I had just ruined my life or guranteed my wife saved. I decided that it was a little too soon to tell. I'd wait another five minutes. I stared at my "champion." A shortish girl with shoulder-length, curly black hair and black-purple eyes. She was wearing one of the Camp shirts, except in grey, a black vest over it, khaki kapri cargos, and neon green sneakers. She had bags under her eyes and she was pretty pale- to say the least, she looked scruffy. "What's your name again?" I asked her. "Tabby," she muttered. Her breath smelled like cheap wine. "And you're Dionysus' daughter, correct?" I asked. She nodded sullenly. "Thought so..." We stood in silence for a minute or so. "Yo! Tabby! We're gonna be late!" A teenage boy hollered from near the main ring of cabins. He had curly blond hair and was pretty tall. I placed him to be about eighteen. "Well, that's my brother... I'm gonna go now," she mumbled. She tried to walk past me, but I grabbed her by the back of her shirt and pulled her back. "I don't think so," I said to her. "We have some stuff to talk about." I looked over at her brother. "She's busy right now! She'll be with you in a bit!" I hollered back at him. Her brother looked confused, but just shrugged and jogged off on his merry little way. I heard Tabby curse under her breath. "Well," I said, clapping my hands once, then rubbing them together, "let's get started!" Tabby sighed loudly. Aiko and Ren, who were still there, looked at each other uncomfortably. "We'll, uh, just get going now.." Ren muttered. "C'mon, Aiko... See you later, Tabby. Bye, Dad." He tugged on Aiko's arm, and pulled her along. Aiko waved at Tabby and me. "Bye, Ren! Bye, Aiko!" I said. Tabby said nothing. Just stared at the ground. We just stood there in silence for a few seconds. "So, what n- Holy Styx....." she muttered, her eyes wide. A cloud of purple-black smoke appeared right next to us. The smoke cleared and there stood Dionysus. A very angry-looking Dionysus. "Go get a new champion," he growled. Oh, Zeus. This could be very bad. Chapter Ten Tabby's POV Oh, lovely. So now he shows up. Eros looked a mix of worried and annoyed. Dad just looked plain ol' pissed off. And then I started to get angry... at my dad. "Dad," I said in an angry monotone. "Go away." He stopped glaring at Eros and looked at me with a shocked expression. "Excuse me?!" "You heard me. Go away. You seemed to be juuust fine with leaving before. So why not leave again?" "Tabitha Rose Vansinnig!" he snapped. "You will not speak to me like that! I am your father and I demand to be respected! And Moreover, I am a god! I have to be respected! Apologize! Then do as I say!" A vein in his neck looked just about ready to pop. "No, I won't! I'm going on this quest, whether you like it or not! And for the record, my middle name is Ivy!" I yelled back, losing the monotone. I turned and started to walk away. Vines started to wrap around my legs and hands. In seconds, I couldn't walk. I pulled and struggled to break the vines. No such luck. The vines lifted me a foot or so off the ground and pulled me back towards Dad and Eros, turning me to face them. I resisted the strong urge to spit on Dad's face. "I'm not discussing it. You're not going. Some other little brat who's had proper experience fighting can go. You haven't even been here for a week! It's not safe..." he said. The vines returned into the ground. Dad looked down at me, concern showing in his dark eyes "You know, I'll just, uh, go find someone else now," Eros said uncomfortably. Then, a cloud of pink perfume appeared a few feet away, then two doves flew by, showering us with glitter. I coughed and waved my hand in front of my face, trying to see (and breathe). "I think she's just fine," a woman's voice said. The cloud of terrifying smells dispersed and the glitter rain had stopped, and there stood the beautiful woman from my dream. Today she was wearing a long, flowy dress the exact color as the sky. Her blonde hair was in disheveled curls, like Jennifer Aniston's, with a headband covered in little blue flowers. Her eyes were the same clear blue as before. The little make up that she did wear was in neutral colors, making her beauty look completely all-natural. And if having a god choose me specifically for a quest wasn't enough to get people standing around, staring, then a fight with my dad certainly did. But now Aphrodite shows up? I swear, almost the entire camp was staring. Dad was staring at Aphrodite, jaw wide open, practically drooling. I felt anger bubbling up inside me once again. I slapped him on the back of the head. "Knock it off! You make me sick..." Aphrodite looked at me with wide eyes, as did Eros, as did the rest of Camp. Dad turned to me, with a mix of shock and rage. "Did you just hit me?" he hissed. "No," I replied meekly. "Oh, then I supposse he did?" he asked, mockingly, gesturing at Eros. "Yes." "Oh, for Zeus' sake, Tabby! Don't be such a child!" "At least I stick around when something bad happens! Oh, it turns out you have a daughter, now let's leave and not come back until you ruin something good that finally happens to her! Very mature!" I yell. I breathe heavily, staring at my dad. The entire Camp stared. I think even all of Olympus was staring at this point. A flash of lightning and the crash of thunder broke the silence. He looked up. "Fine. You go on your quest. But if you die, don't come crying to me when you're in Hades!" Then he was gone in a poof of purple smoke. "Well," Aphrodite said, cheerily, "let's get your Champion ready!" Chapter Eleven Eros' POV We stand in the armory- we being Tabby's half brother, Pollux, Tabby and me. Pollux is working to get Tabby suited up with the proper weapons and training. He glares at me every single chance he gets. So, since I am obviously not welcome to help, I stand off to the side, day-dreaming. "Hey, Tabby," Pollux says, breaking the long silence. "Who're you bringing? On the quest, I mean.." She shrugs in reply. "Well, if you're bringing any guys, I have to approve," he jokes, chuckling. But I can hear the seriousness in his voice. Our young heroine is in an unknown, new territory- Love, I think, making a little story to kill my boredom. A young man, his heart sparked by her bravery (and spunk), he confronts her and asks to join her on her noble quest. She accepts, knowing immdediately that this young man would be a part of her life forever- her true soulmate. I snap back to reality when I see Tabby slicing at the air like a pro. She looks as if she's been doing this for ages. Even Pollux looks impressed. "Very nice. Why don't we go to the arena so you can train a little? Then we can talk about your questing group," he says. He gives me an ice-cold glare as he leads Tabby out of the armory and to the arena. I hesitate a second, wondering if I should go, then decide to follow. I keep my distance, though. I, still bored, look around and see my son, Ren, again. He is walking close to a girl, holding hands. The girl is decent looking enough- curly, shoulder-length white blonde hair, about 5'5" or so, skinny, and wearing the same clothes as almost every other girl there- short jeam shorts and the orange CHB tee. They're laughing and smiling, and really seem to like each other. How could I miss my own son's relationships? A wave of guilt flows over me. I try not to stare and seem creepy and keep my few feet of distance between Tabby and Pollux from growing too far.﻿ We, after a few minutes of walking, finally reach the arena. Pollux points and shows Tabby where to go and a general set of instructions of what to do. She nods, glances at me, then jogs off towards the training area. I feel out of place here. A god amongst demigods, not to mention my clothes- and my age, for that matter. I look about twenty-two, and am wearing a white cotton button-down shirt, tuckted into some expensive brand of khakis, a silver Rolex, and dark brown (super) expensive shoes. Compared to the rest of the kids' jeans, shorts and tees, I should be going to a business meeting, not standing in this arena. But, I suppose twenty-two isn't too old for this place, considering Pollux is only a few years younger. I shrug, trying not to let it bother me. The campers training continue to stare. I noticed Pollux still hadn't left. He was staring at me with an icy, stone-like look. "Can I... help you?" I asked, confusion heavy in my voice. "Listen," he replied, "I know you're a god and all, but..... make sure you take care of Tabby. I lost Castor and I can't lose her too. I just can't." He shakes his head and clears his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. The emotion in his voice and eyes are heavy. In fact, his entire face is just an open book of emotions. I nod and place my hand on ﻿his shoulder in a sort of fatherly way. I give him a small smile and reassure him, "Don't worry. You can can trust me. She won't die.." No guarantees about being hurt, though. Aphrodite likes her games. This seemed to be enough for him, and he nodded at me, then jogged over to Tabby to see how she was doing. I looked around, boredom overtaking me again. One boy in particular caught my eye. Why? Because he was staring at Tabby. Not like a disgusted, "Ew! She has cooties" way, but in the way that I knew all too well. Because I made people have that look for my day job. "Whoops," I muttered. I guess my story wasn't just a cure for boredom.... Chapter Twelve Tabby's POV "Gah, I'm awful at this," I muttered. I was getting frustrated. Pollux was trying his best to teach me, but I just wasn't getting it. I think it was because I felt like everyone was staring. You know what they say, a watched pot never boils. "Tabby," he warned. "You need to pay attention or else you'll never learn this. I know it's hard for you to pay attention, but...." I sighed. ADHD sucks. A lot. I tried very hard to focus from that point on. He did some type of complicated swirly thing with his sword that's suppossed to disarm your opponent. "You've got to be kidding me," I said, jaw dropped. "That ain't gonna happen. Just FYI." He sighed in return. "You're going to fail 100% of the time you don't try," he said, using a motivational line that I think I heard in Phy-Ed when some chubby kid in third grade didn't want to run the mile. Poor guy. I mean, we shouldn't be forced to do things we don't want to do. It's just embarrassing! "Tabby!" Pollux snapped. "Do you want my help or not? 'Cause if you want to learn, you'd better pay attention. Otherwise you're going to go out there unprepared and die. I can't lose you too. Just please, try to learn it." I looked down, sheepishly. I felt guilt wash over me. "Sorry," I muttered. He showed me the trick again. I tried it. The sword went flying out of my hand, mid twirl. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Pollux stood, mouth agape, watching the sword spin lower and lower- falling towards me. Eros- who apparently was still here- stood with his eyes wide, frozen in his place. Then I felt an impact upon me, tackling me to the ground. Time returned to normal and the sword landed point in the ground. "Dear gods," I muttered faintly. Everything went black. I woke up in the infirmary. I had an ice pack on my head, and a glass of what looked to be orange juice on the night stand next to my bed. I reached out a shaky hand to grab the glass, because I was parched and my headache pounded harder and harder every minute. I tipped the glass back and took a little sip. It was like a rainbow flooded into my mouth. It tasted like the sweetest, best, oldest wine ever made. My gods.. I have to have more of this stuff! I tipped the glass back further, but before I could get any more, a hand snatched the glass from my hand. "Hey!" I snapped. I glared at whoever took my glass. My eye sight was still blurry, but I managed to get a general shape. It was obviously a guy- or perhaps a stocky girl with short hair? Nah, it was a guy. My eyes adjusted to the light. He was sort of tall- an inch or two shorter than Pollux- with close-cropped, spiky cinnamon-brown hair and navy blue eyes. He was wearing jeans and the despicable orange Camp shirts. He was actually kind of cute... "Sorry," he said. "Can't let you get too much of that. It'll burn you right up." I grumbled some curse words at the cute boy. He smirked, and set the glass down out of my reach. "How're you feeling?" he asked. I shrugged in reply. He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed next to mine. "I'm Kendall, by the way. Son of Hephaestus. And you're Tabby, right? I'm sorry about tackling you, but you were kinda gonna get killed otherwise.." So he was the guy who tackled me! "Oh, don't be sorry! Thank you! Seriously, I owe you big time. Anything you want- well not anything anything, but, well you know what I mean," I rambled, nervously. He chuckled. "Okay, well, I do have one little thing in mind," he said, sounding mischevious. I raised an eyebrow, a gesture telling him to go on. "I want you to take me with you on your quest. I swear I won't mess anything up. I'll be a huge help- I mean, I can fight and start fires and I can make you a weapon, if you would want one- that's stupid, why would you want me to make you anyth-" "Okay, okay," I muttered. I couldn't help but smile at his nervous rambling. He was totally blushing. "Wait," he said, sounding unsure. "I can go?" "My brother will have to approve first," I said, smirking. "But otherwise, yes." "Wow," he said, with a faraway look in his eyes. "I can't believe it! Thank you, thank you so much, Tabby!" And with that, he hugged me and ran out the door, grinning like a mad man. I reached for the glass to take one more sip. "Don't even try it!" he warned, peeking his head back in. I glared. He left. I reached for the glass. He stopped me. I glared. He left. Et cetera, et cetera. I had a feeling this quest was going to go well. Chapter Thirteen Eros' POV I stood outside of the infirmary. The boy- Kendall, as I was later told his name was- kept walking in and out of Tabby's room. I had heard them talking and they seemed to be getting along well enough. It's good he's going on the quest- they'll need a little bonding time if they're going to spend the rest of their lives together. I wonder if she's noticing that it's a bit of a "coincidence" that when the god of love comes to camp, she suddenly has a new boyfriend. Nah, she seemed a little slow to the whole relationship stuff. Kendall finally left the infirmary and stopped short when he saw me standing outside. He stared at me. I held his gaze for a moment. "Aren't you Eros?" he asked, sounding rather blunt. I blinked, a little shocked, then nodded. "Well, um," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, staring at the ground. "I guess I should thank you for choosing Tabby to go on the quest. If it wasn't for you, I probably never would have met her..." I tried to smile, but it must've come out more like a grimace. "No problem, kid.... So she's pretty special to you, huh?" He blushed a little, but slowly nodded. "I've never really met a girl like her. And I've certainly never felt this way about anyone else." Yeah, I thought, nodding to him, that's kind of my bad. Hope you like being in love. "Well," he said, still sounding awkward. "Thanks again, but I've gotta get going..." He then jogged off, going to his next class or activity or whatever they call it here.. I saw Ren and Aiko walking by. I tried to act natural, to blend in with the scenery. They were chatting, and they really did look happy. I'm glad... I wonder if Aiko is in a relationship too.. Man, I'm such a bad father. I'm the god of love and I don't even know my children's relationships! What's wrong with me? I continued to verbally beat myself up when a head peaked out from the door. Tabby stood there, her face pale and her eyes wide. "So... he loves me?" she asked, somewhat breathlessly. I bit my lip and slowly nodded. "Sorry, Tabby... but you've got yourself a true love. Good luck," I said. The look on her face was too much. I shook my head and walked away, going to wallow in self pity. "Eros, wait!" she called. I stopped and turned my head to look at her. "D-Did you do this?" she asked. I shook my head again, but not to say no. "I'm sorry, Tabby," I said again, then disappeared to Olympus. Gods, what didn't I screw up today? ﻿﻿ Category: Dionysus Category:Aphrodite Category:Drama Category:Rebc29 Category:PG-13 Rated Story